


better now

by watergator



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Depression, Dogs, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, References to Depression, Service Dogs, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 11:36:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12863682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watergator/pseuds/watergator
Summary: dan is home alone with their samoyed, zeus, whilst phils away visiting his parents and dan has one of his bad days





	better now

The apartment is oddly quiet when Phil is away, there isn't the clank and stomp of him shuffling to the kitchen in the morning to make two cups of coffee, or his voice carrying through the hallways as he laughs at a vine compilation video on his phone.  
Instead, there’s just Dan and their fluffy Samoyed companion, Zeus, with the silence Phil had unfairly left with them with for a quick trip to the Isle of Man for a few days to visit his parents, and although the silence is nice, Dan can’t help but think that Phil being here, is a lot nicer.

He’s sat in the gaming room, editing the latest Sims video, when he hears the sound of his neighbours through the wall, the little two year old babbling to himself, and as Dan makes another cut, he feels his lips turn upward in a smile.  
When they’d moved in here, the kid next door had just been born, and Dan would jolt awake at night at the sound of tiny cries coming from the apartment next door, but now the boy was almost two years old - and as much as Dan loved to complain to his heavy sleeper of a boyfriend how annoying it was living next door to a gremlin, Dan found him smiling whenever he heard those giggles or screams of glee coming through the walls.

He edits for a bit more, when suddenly the door creaks open, and Zeus pokes his head round, tongue hanging from his mouth as he smiles up at Dan, padding over to him before he rests his head on his thigh, capturing Dan’s full attention,

“You feeling lonely out there boy?” Dan coos, abandoning whatever editing had left to scratch behind one floppy ear, Zeus tilting his head in glee, and eventually Dan decides he's done enough work for today and the pair retrieve to the lounge where the spend the evening curled up together watching a few reruns of Bake Off before Dan finds himself getting tired.

He doesn't need to get dressed for bed since he’s been in pyjamas all day, clad in his camo sweater and Phil’s Pokemon sweatpants so he jumps off the sofa, Zeus in tail, as they crawl into bed, Zeus using Phil’s absence as an advantage to take his spot in the bed, and Dan huffs a laugh, before falling asleep, snuggled into one another contently. 

When Dan wakes up, he feels his heart sink, and theres a headache just behind his eyes. Zeus is sat up, the duvet strewn across his back from last night, face inches away from Dan’s.  
Dan forces a smile, and Zeus lets his tongue hang out in glee when he notices Dan’s awake, and gives him a few licks to the face to which Dan groans in disgust.

But the happiness is short lived, and Dan blinks and rolls away from Zeus to try and close his eyes again.   
He doesn't want to get up. Not today.

But he hears a whine from behind him, and before he can react, Zeus is pawing at his shoulder, almost as if to roll Dan back over to him.  
Dan knows he needs to get up and feed him, he’ll just keep bothering him otherwise, so Dan rolls back over to face the dog, smiles, and forces himself out of bed.

He sleepily makes his way to the kitchen where he starts fixing up Zeus’s breakfast, when Zeus lets out a soft bark,

“What’s wrong?” Dan mumbles, rubbing his eyes with a knuckle to wake himself up, and Zeus just looks at the bowl Dan is holding and back at Dan again,

“Yes, this is yours” Dan grumbles fondly, setting it down on the floor for Zeus.

But Zeus doesn't even move, not until Dan has his own bowl of cereal in front of him, and finally, when Dan takes the first spoonful, does he begin his own breakfast.  
They both finish, Dan washes his bowl in the sink whilst Zeus just licks his clean, and when Dan makes his way back to his room to crawl back into bed for the reminder of the day Zeus lets out another little bark from behind him,

“What now?” Dan huffs, spinning on his heel to see that Zeus is now stood by the door where the coats and leashes are hung. He knows what Zeus wants.

The samoyed lets out a little whine and Dan rolls his eyes,

“Fine” he tuts, “one quick walk” and he makes his way back to the bedroom to get dressed as Zeus whines in excitement, bounding around his ankles as he follows him.

By the time they get back, Dan is exhausted, a quick walk had turned into a full on hour long jog, and even though Dan had let exercise become part of his daily routine now, he still found it hard to keep up with his monster of a dog.  
  
Dan unclipped the leash as they entered the threshold of the apartment, expecting Zeus to go leaping off, but instead sat by Dan looking up expectantly,

“What?” Dan asked looking down at him, but Zeus just cocked his head, his left ear flopping over so slightly,

“I’m not taking you out for another run, that’s for sure” the brunette huffed as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, but Zeus just sat, staring up at him.

“What’s wrong?” he knelt down so he was on his knees, using his hand to stroke through the thick layers of fur, when the dog pressed his nose against Dan’s, sniffed him a few times, and gave a few big slow licks,

“Ugh” Dan recoiled, finding himself actually smiling, “I’m guessing thats your way of telling me I need a shower huh?” he gave a breathy laugh as he stood up.

He lifted an arm to take a quick sniff of his armpit, and yeah, he was in dire need of a shower.  
So he retreated to the bathroom, stripping himself of his workout gear and let the water cascade down his body for a while, when there was a sharp bark on the other side of the door, pulling Dan from his hazy state of mind,

“Alright” Dan yelled back, pouring a generous amount of shower gel into his hands, “I’ll be out in a minute, don’t worry” he laughed as he heard the small pitter patter of feet walk away from behind the door.

By the time Dan had showered, got dressed, gave Zeus a small something to eat and made something for himself too, he actually didn't feel so bad.

These were the many joys of having a therapy dog.

Sure, all dogs were an absolute joy to be around, but the thing about dogs like Zeus was that they had this incredible way about them, how he was so gentle with Dan, small reminders that Dan would usually forget if he’d been left alone, like, _wake up because I need to eat but also because I cant let you sit here and do nothing_ , and _take me for a walk because I’m bored but also because you need the exercise it’ll make you feel better_.

Zeus knew Dan so well, and without him sounding like a glorified babysitter, Zeus took care of Dan, on days that Phil was away, or even when Phil was here and he’d wake up before his boyfriend and could smell those bad thoughts and feelings about not getting up, he took care of Dan and Dan took care of him in return.

So when they were back where they were yesterday evening, curled up on the sofa, tucked up under Dan’s ‘sad pimp’ blanket with Kill Bill playing quietly on TV, a hand running aimlessly through the dogs fur, Dan feels his phone ping in his pocket and feels a smile stretch across his lips when he sees the text on his screen,

**phil <3 **: _home in about an hour is everything okay? love u :) x_

Dan feels like a giddy eighteen year old again, except this time, he’s older now and changed in ways he would never have believed when he was younger, he’s on his third home with Phil and the only difference is that there’s a big warm dog laying across his legs and theres the promise of having what next door have in the near future, but most importantly, he’s doing much better now.

**Author's Note:**

> service dogs for depression/anxiety are actually very much real and very incredible so i though that this would be a good idea for a cute short fic about zeus helping dan through one of his bad days :)  
> also lets just pretend that dan and phil are allowed dogs in their apartments okay let me just dream lol
> 
> anyways hope you enjoyed and if you did leave me a kudos OR you could really tell me what you liked, what you didnt like and what i can improve on by leaving a comment !! theyre incredibly helpful and very much appreciated so thank you if you do leave either :)


End file.
